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Modelling and Management of Energy in Buildings to Support Smart Energy Communities

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2025) | Viewed by 1739

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, 30172 Mestre, Italy
Interests: urban building energy modelling; Smart Buildings; nZEB; energy communities; energy management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human life is closely linked to the energy performance of existing buildings, since most of our time is spent within indoor environments, whether for housing activities, work or hobbies. The large level of urbanization has made buildings the largest consumers of energy, mostly coming from inefficient use of fossil sources, and consequently leading to 36% of overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Although the exhaustibility of resources and their need for sustainable growth are factors which have been considered since the 1970s, the current challenges require a common effort to reduce the contribution of buildings to environmental degradation.

Therefore, considering the growing interest in improving building energy performance, this Special Issue focuses on:

  • Efficient methods and tools to manage complex environments such as net Zero-Emission Buildings (nZEBs) and Smart Buildings (SBs).
  • Optimized control strategies to combine efficient use of HVAC systems, lighting, appliances and renewable energy source production.
  • Optimized control strategies to match the user’s behaviour.
  • Application of large-scale renovation strategies to achieve the targets of Smart Buildings.
  • Strategies for the development of energy communities by considering buildings as part of an interconnected urban system.

Dr. Laura Carnieletto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • smart and net ZEBs
  • control strategies for HVAC systems and RES combination
  • user behavior
  • energy communities
  • urban scale energy share

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 10306 KiB  
Article
Achieving Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings through Renewable Energy Production-Storage Optimization
by Bhumitas Hongvityakorn, Nattawut Jaruwasupant, Kitiphong Khongphinitbunjong and Pruk Aggarangsi
Energies 2024, 17(19), 4845; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17194845 - 27 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1220
Abstract
This research focuses on optimizing renewable energy systems to achieve Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) Level 1 status, defined as reducing energy consumption by 87.5% to 100%. The major objectives are to explore the impact factors in the optimization of energy storage systems (ESSs), [...] Read more.
This research focuses on optimizing renewable energy systems to achieve Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) Level 1 status, defined as reducing energy consumption by 87.5% to 100%. The major objectives are to explore the impact factors in the optimization of energy storage systems (ESSs), solar PV and ESS capacities, as well as energy consumption patterns. This study is based on monitoring data from an office building in Thailand with a 120 kW peak load and a 40 kW average load, equipped with a 160 kW photovoltaic (PV) system and 45 kWh from ESS. This study is based on comparing a simulation of a renewable energy system, particularly from unutilized solar energy, with building load demand to optimize the best system suitability for achieving nZEB Level 1 status. The results indicate that a 200 kW PV system combined with a 275 kWh ESS and a 250 kW PV system with an ESS capacity of 175 kWh can adequately supply the required clean energy demand. These findings provide insights on optimizing factors of renewable energy systems for buildings aiming to achieve sustainability targets. This work has summarized a framework including optimization impact factors with financial aspects which can be applied to similar cases. In addition, an analysis of working-day load profiles and appliance usage patterns has been performed to provide broader consumption insights. This approach identifies trends in HVAC, lighting, and electronics consumption, enabling the optimization scheme to be adapted to buildings with varying load patterns. Additionally, this study examines the effects of building operation hours on energy consumption. By adjusting operational schedules based on these insights, different renewable energy system capacities can be re-estimated to ensure achievement of the desired nZEB Level. Full article
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